'The benefit of being an independent is you go right to the golden ticket time.'

'The benefit of being an independent is you go right to the golden ticket time.'

Billionaire Mark Cuban is considering running for president in 2020, possibly as a Republican or more likely as an Independent, but almost certainly not as a Democrat, Business Insider is reporting.

Speaking at Business Insider’s IGNITION conference in New York City, Cuban was asked if he was any closer to making a decision on running for POTUS in 2020, something he’s been hinting at for months. His answer did little to put an end to that speculation one way or the other.

In case you’re wondering why Cuban mentioned parenting, it’s because unlike most other men who have run for president, who have been advanced enough in age that their children were grown adults by the time they ran, Cuban is the parent of minor children. Though 60, he is also the father of two 15-year-old girls, an 11-year-old girl, and an 8-year-old boy.

It is not the first time Cuban has mentioned family considerations in keeping him back from running for president. In October 2017, speaking to Business Insider UK, Cuban said he would “definitely” be running for president if he were single.

Meanwhile, the number of interviews, statements, tweets, and other instances in which he’s broadly hinted, or outright said, that he’s “considering” running for president increases by the day. For example, speaking to CNBC in October 2017, Cuban said he was “actively considering” a run for POTUS. It was the second interview he gave that very day in which he floated the suggestion.

Cuban has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump. For example, as the Dallas Morning News reported in 2017, Cuban called Trump an “idiot.”

“It’s easy to call him an idiot because he is. We’ve been calling him that for a long time and it hasn’t gotten us anywhere.”

If he were to run, it would be difficult for Cuban to find a party that’s right for him. According to a 2012 report in the Advocates, Cuban said his views tend toward libertarianism – which is to say, fiscally conservative and socially liberal. However, he has not once suggested that he might run as a candidate from the Libertarian Party. He has also said in the past that he would “absolutely not” run as a Democrat. That would mean that he would have to either challenge Donald Trump for the Republican Party’s 2020 nomination or run as an Independent – something that he says he might yet do.

“I think there is an incremental value for setting up an independent candidacy.”